Traditionally, adequate moisture, softness and freshness have been retained in soft cookies and snacks through the use of ground raisins or other fruit pastes incorporated into the dough. These materials, however, impart a fruity taste to the dough that is acceptable in oatmeal-apple, or raisin flavored cookies, for example, but is not appropriate for soft chocolate chip, peanut butter, molasses or other varieties of soft, non-fruit tasting cookies, snacks and the like.
It is, therefore, among the primary objects of the invention to provide a suitable replacement or substitute for ground fruits or fruit pastes that has the desired properties of bland flavor, high moisture retention properties in baked products, compatability with dough mixing and handling processes, and costs comparable to the prior art fruit pastes.
It is another object of this invention to provide a firm gel system, comprising five essential ingredients, which is shelf-stable in character and which can be stored in sealed shipping units for indefinite periods of time and later distributed to baking locations or plants for production of soft-textured cookies, biscuits, snacks and the like.
Edible gel formulations are known in the art, but they are usually based on an aqueous system and used for filling baked products, for example, jelly-filled doughnuts and jelly rolls, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,352,688, describing an aqueous-based light bodied gel containing a water-soluble alginate which is said to be free from gumminess and heat- and freeze-resistant. Typical of the prior art, this teaching relates only to the filling utilized in baked goods, and not to the preparation of a soft-textured, moisture-retaining, cookie dough.
In another teaching, typical of the prior art, dessert gels (U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,612) are taught which have the capacity to gel at room temperatures, which is said to be of particular advantage in tropical or subtropical, low income regions where refrigeration often is not available. Once again, the gel is based on an aqueous system, which in this instance utilizes carrageenin to prepare the dessert gel.
Another aspect of applicant's invention involves the use of a humectant such as glycerine in the preparation of the gel system. Humectants, of course, have long been used in the food industry, and more particularly in the preparation of baked goods. One such teaching relevant to this point is U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,967, believed to cover the familiar "Pop-Tart" dessert or breakfast items, comprised typically of a fruit-filled product, adapted to be heated in a common toaster oven for one to two minutes to produce an edible product having the desired eating quality wherein the filling softens to a plastic or gelled condition and the crust has a crisp fresh-baked texture. While the unbaked two-phase products taught in this prior art is said to have a storage period of say six (6) months, when properly packaged, the two phases (dough and filling) are formulated in such a manner that upon heating in a toaster oven, moisture is transferred from the outer dough or crust to the fruit-filling which additionally retains and increases its moisture content, in part, by the aid of a hydrophillic agent or humectant, such as glycerine or sorbitol. It is especially noted that a gel system is not taught or used in the dough portion of said two-phase product; indeed, the object of this prior art teaching is to produce a crust which is "crisp" upon baking and not soft-textured as in applicant's invention.
In another teaching of the prior art, a molded edible product (e.g. for a child's toy) may contain carrageenen to bind and/or gel a system containing glycerol and/or propylene glycol, note U.S. Pat. No. 3,493,382. Edible products are capable of being produced at quite relatively low baking temperatures, for example, 195.degree. F. to 200.degree. F., which makes it effective to provide an edible product which a child user may readily make with safety. Such teachings, of course, would be hardly relevant to the large-scale, industrial, high-volume production of soft-textured cookies having an extended shelf-life contemplated by the present invention.
In another teaching of the prior art (U.S. Pat. No. 3,119,697), stabilized icings are prepared using an agar or modified agar gelling agent in an aqueous system. This prior art does not teach or suggest how to make soft-textured, baked cookie products having extended shelf-life as contemplated by the present invention.